Transcript IV. Technology Milestones in Food and Agriculture Chemists and chemical engineers have made many contributions to food and agriculture that allow.

IV. Technology Milestones in Food and Agriculture
Chemists and chemical engineers have made many contributions to food and agriculture that allow us to
raise, harvest, and consume abundant and nutritious food.
At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, an average kitchen table would be loaded with produce
from the root cellar, garden, or local farm; butter from a churn; eggs from hens penned in the backyard;
vegetables from the garden and meat stored in an icebox and cooked over a coal or wood stove.
The last century has brought vast changes in how we get food on our tables by making our farms more
productive and our food and water supplies readily available. Modern farmers have utilized new chemical
advances to improve agricultural production with fertilizers and pesticides and to develop plentiful food
supplies. Consumers have benefited from new technologies that have enhanced the flavor, appearance,
availability, and nutritional value of their food.
These advances in chemistry are helping to feed the world’s rapidly expanding population.
IV.1. Fertilizers and Soil Nutrients
Nitrogen fixation
Haber-Bosch process
Advances in chemical fertilizers
Green Revolution and hybrid plants
IV.3. Food Processing, Handling and Safety
Saccharin and sweeteners
Vitamins and minerals
Preservation and manufacturing advances
Food safety and quality control
Chronology
IV.2. Crop Protection and Pest Management
Bordeaux method and fungicides
DDT and pesticides
Livestock protection
Farm mechanization
IV.4. Food Storing
Food packaging
Refrigerants and chlorofluorocarbons
Microwave ovens
Clean water
IV. Technology Milestones in Food and Agriculture
Chronology
1881 The French scientist Louis Pasteur discovers anthrax vaccine for sheep and hogs
1883 Danish chemist Johan Gustav Kjeldahl developed a method to analyze the nitrogen content of any
organic compound
1884 The French botanist Pierre M. A. Millardet invents the Bordeaux mixture to fight vineyard mildew
1901 John F. Quenny, the founder of Monsanto Company manufactures Saccharin
1913 Two German chemists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed the process for the production of ammonia
at industrial level
1913 Elmer V. McCollum and Marguerite David discover Vitamin A in butter and egg yolks
1918 The firm Kelvinator launches the first successful compressor-operated refrigerator for home use
1933 Milk fortified with Vitamin D is sold commercially
1939 The Swiss chemist Paul Mueller discovers the insecticidal qualities of DDT pesticide
1943 U.S. Department of Agriculture chemists develop aerosol dispersion for insecticides and farm applications
1953 Saran wrap for household use is introduced by the firm Dow
1964 The ‘Green Revolution’: Application of new hybrid plants and liquid soil fertilizers helps solve
nutrition problems in the developing world.
1972 DDT usage banned in the United States. (As first country on the world Hungary banned it in 1968)
1974 Monsanto introduces its comprehensive and non-tilling Roundup herbicide
1990 Novel fortifications in food and ‘nutriceutical’ products become commercially popular
IV.1. Fertilizers and Soil Nutrients
Nitrogen fixation
Nitrogen fixation is an essential
natural
process
in
which
microorganisms convert the otherwise
less-reactive nitrogen into inorganic
nitrogen compounds, which in turn
first appear in nutritional chain as
organic nitrogen compounds such as
proteins in plants. Available soil
nitrogen,
especially
nitrates
is
normally deficient for intensive crop
production,
Many
commercial
processes have been developed to
produce nitrogen fertilizers, including
the best known Haber-Bosch method
for
ammonia
synthesis.
The
achievability
of
balanced
soil
chemistry was also advanced by the
1956 development of the Kjeldahl
method to analyze automatically the
amount of existing nitrogen present in
organic compounds.
The nitrogen cycle
Unit for determining nitrogen
content of organic materials by
the Kjeldahl method
IV.1. Fertilizers and Soil Nutrients
The Haber- Bosch process
At the end of nineteenth century, the limited
food supply of the world’s expanding population
raised growing concerns, The nitrogen content
of agricultural soil had been exhausted, and the
question of industrial support for nitrogen
fertilizers remained unsolved. Some scientists
expected a starvation worldwide. Therefore, an
urgent task was the production of production of
nitrogen compounds utilizing nitrogen fromthe
air. The solution came in 1908 from Germany,
where Fritz Haber discovered the principles of
ammonia synthesis, utilizing all physical and
chemical resources available at that time. The
synthesis takes place on iron catalyst at high
pressure and temperature. Carl Bosch, chemist
at BASF (Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik)
commercialized the process by establishing the
first, state-of-the-art, industrial-level production
in 1913. This industrial process allowed for the
expansion of both agriculture production and
human population during the 20th century.
Fritz Haber
IV.1. Fertilizers and Soil Nutrients
Advances in chemical fertilizers
Beginning
in
1913,
synthetic
fertilizers
were
commercially
produced and dramatically improved
crop
yields
and
production.
Innovations in the basic production
of chemical fertilizers have been
made ever since, including the 1930
marketing of granulated fertilizers
and the 1965 introduction of
suspension
fertilizers
in
the
American market. In the 1970s,
granulation was further refined to
introduce fertilizers suitable for
home-use blending.
The most recent innovations in
commercial fertilizers include timerelease encapsulation that avoids
environmentally undesirable over
fertilization.
IV.1. Fertilizers and Soil Nutrients
Green Revolution and hybrid plants
Since the 1870s, hybrid plants have been created to use
desirable traits to increase food production and quality.
Organic chemistry identifies desirable plant qualities,
translates those qualities to successive hybrids, and
maximizes nitrogen uptake with chemical fertilizers.
These advances led to the so-described ‘Green
Revolution’, beginning when Mexico first became selfsufficient in wheat production in 1943. By 1964, much of
Asia’s population was being fed using new hybrid plants
and soil nutrient chemistry.
American farmers are now embracing new kinds of
hybrid plants, such as maize and potatoes that secrete
a pesticide in their leaves and stems.
IV.2. Crop Protection and Pest Managament
Bordeaux method and fungicides
In 1882, French botanist Pierre M. A.
Millardet employed an aqueous solution
of copper sulfate and hydrated lime
dissolved in water (Bordeaux mixture)
to effectively combat mildew in French
vineyards. The Bordeaux mixture now
controls a number of fungi that attack
crops. This also marked the first largescale fungicide use and revolutionized
chemical crop protection. Chemical
innovations in agricultural fungicides
continued with the introduction of
dithiocarbamate fungicides in 1934 and
strobilurin fungicides in 1996.
Pierre M. A.
Millardet
IV.2. Crop Protection and Pest Managament
DDT and pesticides
Pesticides shield agricultural
crops from harm by fungi,
insects, and competition from
other plants. In 1939, Paul
Mueller
developed
the
inexpensive insecticide DDT
(dichlor-diphenyl-trichlorethan)
to control potato beetles and
other insects. DDT and similar
pesticides controlled crop pests
and insect-borne diseases for
over twenty years. In the 1960s,
public
concerns
about
environmental damage and
accumulation of DDT in human
body, combined with increasing
resistance in pest species led to
the evolution of new pesticides
and the decline of DDT. Today’s
low-application
pesticides
provide greater economy for
farmers, added worker safety,
and are more environmentally
friendly than ever before.
Thinned egg-shells
caused by DDT
DDT in combating
malaria
IV.2. Crop Protection and Pest Managament
Livestock protection
The treatment of animal disease, either
by vaccination or medication, has
increased the quality and quantity of the
food supply. In 1881, Louis Pasteur
successfully perfected techniques to
vaccinate animals in order to induce
immunity against the anthrax-causing
organism.
In 1981, the anti-parasitic Ivermectin
was introduced to fight a wide range of
mites, worms, and other internal
parasites that effect animal health.
Current research is attempting to
prevent
bovine
spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE), the so called
`mad cow disease’ that is believed to be
caused by proteins in animal feed that
harbor the infectious agent.
Louis Pasteur
Pasteur vaccinates animals
IV.2. Crop Protection and Pest Managament
Farm mechanization
In conjunction with the need for efficient application
technologies for agricultural chemicals (fertilizers,
pesticides) and water, agricultural chemistry and
farm mechanization have developed together over
the last century, They have dramatically increased
farm efficiency and productivity.
The Diesel-oil-powered tractor was developed by
Benjamin Holt, the American inventor, in 1904 in
conjunction with the need for efficient application
technologies for agricultural chemicals (fertilizers,
pesticides) and water.
The crawler tractor
developed by Holt
Today’s tractors, cultivators, combines reapers, irrigation machines, computer-based application technology,
and sophisticated GPS software are all enabled by chemical innovations such as petrochemical fuels,
structural materials (metal alloys and advanced plastics), tire technology, and computing electronics.
IV.3. Food Processing - Handling and Safety
Saccharin and sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners created
using chemistry aid both
diabetics and dieters in
controlling their sugar intake.
In 1901, John F. Quenny
manufactured the artificial
sweetener Saccharin. In 1967,
the manufacturing of highfructose corn syrup using a
patented enzyme to increase
the fructose sweetness of corn
syrup from 14% to 42% began
and quickly became the
sweetener for all major soft
drinks. Aspartame was first
sold in 1985 in the USA; this
low-calorie intense sweetener
marketed as NutraSweet was
developed in 1955 as a
possible anti-ulcer drug.
Originally packaged
Saccharin
IV.3. Food Processing - Handling and Safety
Vitamin additives
Understanding food biochemistry has revolutionized
nutrition by offering cures for dietary deficiency and
malnutrition caused by lack of vitamins.
Chemistry has made great advances in this field, as
shown by examining the first vitamin to be discovered.
Vitamin A (beta-carotene) was isolated in 1913 from
butter and egg yolks, and is an essential nutrient for
vision and protection of epithelia. Its chemical structure
was determined in 1931, and it was first synthesized in
1947. The Hungarian biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi
isolated hexuronic acid (ascorbic acid) from adrenal
glands in 1928. It is now known as vitamin C.
In 2001, genetically-modified ‘golden rice’ that produces
pro-vitamin A arrives in Asia to fight blindness and other
deficiency diseases.
IV.3. Food Processing - Handling and Safety
Preservation and manufacturing advances
The roots of food chemistry go back to the
German Justus Liebig, who first made meet
extract at the middle of nineteenth century.
Advances in preservation and manufacturing
techniques have allowed us to create
processed foods. As food chemistry fueled
industrial practices, many processed foods
were developed. New technologies also
extended the shelf life of food, including freezedrying (liophilisation) (1906), deep-freezing
foods (1920), precooking frozen foods (1939),
and making concentrates from fluids (1946).
The one-time placard of Liebig’s
meat extract
IV.3. Food Processing - Handling and Safety
Food safety and testing
Any raw agricultural product or prepared food
can be contaminated and adversely affect
human health. Contaminations may occur
during preparation, cooking, serving and
storage. Chemical advances that increase food
safety include rapid test methods which enable
the detection ofmicrobial food contaminants
and control of food-borne epidemics. Illnesses
from the most common food-borne pathogens
have been reduced by 20% from 1997 to 1999
in the USA.
IV.4. Food Storing
Food packaging
Packaging food with plastics, metal, glass,
and ceramic technologies help to preserve
food during sale, shipping, and preparation.
Ralph Wiley invented industrial saran
polymer in the 1930s, and household Saran
wrap was introduced in 1953 to provide an
excellent barrier to oxygen, moisture, aroma,
and chemicals under extreme humidity and
temperature conditions. Saran wrap is a
copolymer of vinylidene chloride and vinyl
chloride. Other innovations include utilization
of aluminum cans for foods and beverages
(1960s),
and of
PET (polyethylene
terephthalate) as recyclable container
packaging to replace glass or aluminum
(1970s).
IV.4. Food Storing
Refrigerants and chlorofluorocarbons
Since it was introduced for home use in 1918,
refrigeration has altered food preservation by
providing the ability to transport and store fresh
foods safely. Early 1920s refrigerators were
unpopular after the sulfur dioxide coolant
proved toxic. The solution was Freon 12, a
chlorofluorocarbon (also referred to as a CFC,
CCl2F2) compound made into a refrigerant gas
by Thomas Midgley and Charles Kettering in
1931. Refrigerators quickly became standard in
homes, restaurants, and grocery stores. Freon’s
role is now being discontinued because of its
role in the destruction of the earth’s ozone layer.
Icebox (1890) and
household refrigerator by Kelvinator (1926)
IV.4. Food Storing
Microwave owens
Household appliances in the 20th century have
eliminated much of the everyday labor of food
preparation. One such innovation fueled by
chemical advances was the microwave oven. In
1945, Percy L. Spencer was reportedly standing
near an operating radar transmitter at Raytheon
when a candy bar in his pocket began to melt.
Fascinated, he replicated this experience with
popcorn, and the microwave oven was born. His
Radarange debuted later that decade in
industrial kitchens. Today, World War II-type
microwave transmitters, called magnetrons, still
form the heart of this popular appliance.
IV.4. Food Storing
Clean water
Advances in chemistry have ensured safe water
supplies that are free from bacteria, viruses, and
other harmful contaminants. Innovations include
using carbons to remove bad taste and odor, other
ingredients to soften the water and remove heavy
metals, and modern technology for water treatment,
supply, and distribution. Chlorine disinfection in
water treatment systems was underway by 1910,
and household bleach was introduced in 1913.
Chlorine-based disinfectants remain an excellent
method for protecting kitchens and food-processing
facilities from food-borne diseases.
Molecule model of
hypochlorous acid